Ictonyx Kaup, 1835 . Das Thierreich in Seinen Hauptformen, 1:352.

TYPE SPECIES: Ictonyx capensis Kaup, 1835 (= Bradypus striatus Perry, 1810) (Melville and Smith, 1987).

SYNONYMS: Ictidonyx Agassiz, 1846; Ictomys Roberts, 1936; Poecilictis Thomas and Hinton, 1920; Rhabdogale Wiegmann, 1838; Zorilla I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1826.

COMMENTS: There is considerable controversy over the correct name for this genus (Herschkovitz, 1955b; Van Gelder, 1966). Zorilla Oken, 1816, is invalid (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1956b). Zorilla Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1826, was suppressed under the plenary powers for the purposes of the Principle of Priority (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1967). Rosevear (1974) strongly suggested, and Dekeyser (1955) and Niethammer (1987a) argued that Poecilictis Thomas and Hinton, 1920, and Ictonyx are congeneric. The principal skull features used to erect the new genus by Thomas and Hinton (1920) could not be supported when a more extensive series of specimens was measured (Rosevear, 1974).